The Sedgwick County Election Office hosted a public demonstration today prospective of new voting equipment that will replace current election machines.
The current voting machines have been in use for 10 years and for security purposes need to be upgraded to newer technology. But Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman says the new machines won’t be be put into use until 2017.
"With our current system we know what our challenges are that we face, and so we don’t want to go into a presidential election with brand new machines without our election workers being very comfortable using them, without the voters being comfortable," Lehman says. "Having a large turnout on something new is an unknown and that could just create lots of problems."
Lehman says the county will also add 300 to the number of machines available, making the total 900 new touch-screen voting machines for 2017. The new equipment is estimated to cost between $5 to $7 million.
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Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.
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